Tom Donohoe, head of West Yorkshire Police customer contact centre

But here are some new contenders for the title of the dumbest call of all which prove that some people still aren’t getting the message.

In one call a man dials 999 to complain about a fly in his bedroom.

“That’s definitely not a 999 emergency,” the operator replies.

Next is the woman who wants to report her boyfriend for letting her pet mice out of their cage.

“I’m currently trying to coax my mice back into their beds, but some of them are mummies and they need to get back to their babies” she tells the call handler.

In the last call a man wants police to replace a tyre on his company car.

He says: “I’m going to London. My wheel is broken and I need someone to help me.”

Tom Donohoe, head of communications at West Yorkshire Police, said: “These calls are so ridiculous that it’s astonishing listening to them but they hide a serious truth.

“Each call often takes minutes to deal with as our customer contact centre staff have to clarify the situation – it might not sound like much but if someone is trying to get through to report a genuine life or death emergency then a minute is a very long time to wait.

“I cannot stress enough that the 999 number is for emergencies only.”

The contact centre receives more than 1,000 999 calls a day. About 6,000 calls a year are thought to be deliberate hoax calls.

Mr Donohoe appealed for people not to waste police time during the busy winter period.

He said: “With more snow forecast and the festive season it is more important than ever that we are able to deal with emergencies as quickly as possible and not have our time taken up with silly calls.”